CND Press Digest: Friday 10th February 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Russia launched a wave of drone and missiles attacks across south and eastern Ukraine on Thursday night, with Ukraine claiming two missiles crossed Romanian and Moldovan airspace before hitting its targets. It comes amid reports of a renewed Russian offensive to take territory ahead of the invasion’s first anniversary.
• Former defence secretary Micheal Fallon says NATO shouldn’t fear Russia’s nuclear bluff: “The nuclear threat cannot be completely ignored. Nato will want to ensure, privately if not publicly, that Putin fully understands the consequences. And there’s always some risk with such an irrational leader: we should not rule out some minor detonation (or deliberate “accident”). But it’s equally important not to be panicked into linking any decision to supply fighter aircraft or train their pilots with the eventual resolution of this terrible conflict. While Ukrainian sovereignty remains at stake, it would be simply immoral to make our provision of weapons conditional upon any particular outcome.”
• The Guardian’s editorial says that supplying more weapons to Ukraine is a “race against time.”
• Foreign Affairs: What Russia Got Wrong.
• Professor Lawrence Freedman gives his latest thoughts on how the Russo-Ukraine war could progress.

Trident Replacement

• Construction has started on the third of four new Dreadnought-class submarine at BAE’s shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness. The BBC notes that the vessel, called Warspite, is estimated to cost £31 million.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Lincolnshire Live: New ‘skills centre’ planned for district as part of multi-billion pound energy project.

Nuclear Energy

• The Express hears concerns from Dr Paul Dorfman on how this week’s earthquake in Turkey could have serious consequences for the nuclear plant being built with the help of Russia’s Rosatom. He notes: “I’m not reassured that Russian news agency TASS or Rosatom say that everything is secure. I feel unsure that they’re entirely honest, we’ve seen misreporting of the Ukraine war by TASS, I believe that Rosatom should be sanctioned and it shouldn’t be allowed to function outside Russia because of the war. Most importantly, it seems complete madness to build a new nuclear power station in an earthquake zone that’s 16 miles away from an earthquake fault line.”
• Greenpeace is taking the European Commission to court over allowing gas and nuclear power to be labelled as green when it comes to EU investments.
• Poland has selected Rolls Royce to collaborate on building nuclear small modular reactors in the country.

North Korea

• The Telegraph has more on North Korea’s recent ballistic missile parade, noting thatKim Jong-un’s wife, Ri Sol Ju, wore a silver pendant in the shape of a Hwasong-17 ICBM during the proceedings.

USA

• The Independent looks at a US government map showing the parts of the country most at risk of a nuclear war.
• The Times - JFK nuclear bunkers: Tide turns in fight to save Cold War landmarks

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament